58 MACWORLD FEBRUARY 2020
iOSCENTRAL HOW TO USE FIND MY APPyou actively
locate your
device, mark it as
lost, or enable
Send Last
Location. Then,
the data is stored
encrypted on
Apple’s servers,
and is retained
for no more than
24 hours.
Finding offline
devices using
Bluetooth
beacons is even
more private—
that relies on a system of fully end-to-end
encrypted and anonymous identifiers that
use a rotating key provided by one of your
other Apple devices. Nobody else, not
even Apple, can identify and track your
devices this way.
When somebody shares their location
with you, you do not automatically share
your location back—you’re given the
option to. And you can share your location
for just one hour, until the end of the day,
or indefinitely.
HOW TO ENABLE FIND MY ON
YOUR DEVICE
When you sign in to your Apple ID on your
device, it automatically enables certain
features, including Find My [device]. It’s
enabled for your Apple Watch or AirPods if
it’s enabled for the iPhone they’re
associated with.
If you’ve disabled this for some reason,
you can re-enable it in the Settings app.
Open Settings, and then tap on your
Apple ID at the top. Select Find My and
you’ll see a Find My iPhone/iPad menu at
the top of the screen to enable Find My
iPhone/iPad, Enable Offline Finding, and
Send Last Location.
You can also choose whether to share
your location with others, including when
making requests of Siri or to trigger location-
based automations in the Home app.
On a Mac running macOS Catalina,Find My should be on by default for most users, but you can enable or
disable it in Settings.